I think it's completely ridiculous. Even though those girls might have acted foolishly (I know Kasierith thinks they did, and I trust her judgement on this), I do not accept this as an acceptable punishment in anyway. They could reasonably be removed and perhaps thrown in jail overnight for disorderly conduct, but to actually be sentenced to, what was it? Hard labour in some remote prison camp? That's an egregious assault on free speech.

Nah, they are doing 2 years in a fairly easy-mode colony.

But why so light on them and so hard on this guy? They have clearly insulted and offended more people than this guy did, and they had a history of doing it that stretched back more than a single year. Furthermore, their previous offenses were much more serious by American standards than this guy's history of harassing the girl (Pussy Riot's public orgy stint alone would have earned them hard prison time in USA).

And yes, the technical reason for which this guy was jailed was the threat he made to the mother. However we both know the judge used his position to slam the book on the guy as an "example" - giving him maximum allowed sentence under the guidelines for a very, very very minor offense (a minor misdemeanor charge). This is no different than the book being slammed on PR to set examples. They were arrested on a charge (hooliganism) no more serious than this guy was.

Wait, are you comparing Putin to a little girl? Putin is the president who changed laws to be president ... in any case - he's a public figure.
Abuse of little girls is quite different than anything that anyone can do to Putin.

Putin? What does Putin have to do with anything? "PR" insulted a large majority of Russian people, not Putin.

Oh, I thought they only went to jail because they chose to do it in a church. But frankly I feel little pity for them either. Their message is right imo, but not the way they went about conveying it.

There are a number of things... if you look at their history, they're actually a very nasty group of people. In general I agree with the spirit of the sentencing, but not the extent.

Last edited by Kasierith; 2012-12-01 at 05:25 AM.

“A fool is not a person who does not know something. Rather, a fool is a person who is given information but who chooses to ignore what he is given based on how he wants things to be, rather than how things are."

As harsh as their sentencing was, I find little pity for them. They followed the tactic that quite a few people do in Russia now, of hatefully bashing other people whether it be Putin or the church, very often breaking the law in the process, and then broadcasting themselves across the world on the belief that if everyone is watching, they won't be charged. Public support is not even close to as low for Putin as some people proclaim it to be, and it truly is saddening how they attempt to rally the world against the Russian government, when they couldn't even produce a candidate with 20% popularity.

edit: referring to Pussy Riot with this, not the guy here.

Well, be that as it may, I guess I just don't see why that's a big deal. Especially in this particular case, which would be the first time I actually formed any opinion at all on these groups. It's not like they were actually doing anyone any real harm. What did do again? Sing some shitty song in the church? That wasn't truly attacking anyone. So disorderly/disruptive conduct? Yes, sure. But lengthy imprisonment because, apparently, the song caused offense smacks of punishing free speech to me.

There's also that I generally cannot help but sympathise with anyone who is disproportionally punished for their actions.

---------- Post added 2012-12-01 at 05:16 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Ashnazg

Nah, they are doing 2 years in a fairly easy-mode colony.

But why so light on them and so hard on this guy?

This guy physically threatened a person. They just sang some song in a church. Also, they got two years; he got 30 days. If they got 30 days I probably wouldn't even remember them.

They have clearly insulted and offended more people than this guy did

But as I keep saying, I do not consider "insulting/offending" people as justification for imprisonment. Moreover, I make a distinction between targetting a specific private citizen, and generally causing offense to the public.

And yes, the technical reason for which this guy was jailed was the threat he made to the mother. However we both know the judge used his position to slam the book on the guy as an "example" - giving him maximum allowed sentence under the guidelines for a very, very very minor offense (a minor misdemeanor charge).

That the guy was given the harshest possible penalty for that particular misdemeanor?

Circumstantial deduction. Could very well be that the judge felt his history of abusive actions warranted the maximum penalty. You can't definitively treat it as a given that he's being made an example of. Like really, what has he got to offer as mitigation? Maybe I missed it, but I see aggravating factors and none to mitigate.

When I grew up, we had a saying, it was "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me".

I'm excited to see the world in 2050 when it's run by a bunch of babies who get offended by name calling.

This generation is going to be one of the worst ones of all, a generation raised entirely by the media. Everyone is a child predator, everyone is a murderer according to the media. Kids can't go more than 5 yards without a constant surveillance device on them. I remember when I was told to go play in traffic by my parents... okay maybe a bad analogy.

Also, when did jail become "the place where we send people to leech tax dollars because they messed up"? Why am I wasting my tax dollars to feed, house, and clothe some douche because he upset a crippled child?

Threatening to choke people with a metal chain doesn't justify jail time now?

Of course it doesn't! 99% of all threats are never realized. If there is a reason to believe that he will actually do it, yes, there should be something done about it, otherwise no. If everyone who ever threatened someone went to jail, 90% of people would be inmates. What the hell people?!

Of course it doesn't! 99% of all threats are never realized. If there is a reason to believe that he will actually do it, yes, there should be something done about it, otherwise no. If everyone who ever threatened someone went to jail, 90% of people would be inmates. What the hell people?!

90% of people threaten other people with violence?
I can see 90% if you include threatening to fire or give some disciplinary action and such, but I'd be surprised if 90% of people have threatened someone with violence. I never have, doubt I ever will. No reason to go there.

He deserved it. Really how can people be such an asshole? He shouldn't have gone to jail but he should have been punched in his face by someone around there. He may have not commited a crime but I don't feel sorry at all for trash like this.

Evidence required. Also not all threats are equal; this one clearly has been considered to be serious enough to warrant jail. Possibly because of a long history of abuses.

If there is a reason to believe that he will actually do it, yes, there should be something done about it, otherwise no. If everyone who ever threatened someone went to jail, 90% of people would be inmates. What the hell people?!

What about all the children who commit suicide via bullying and verbal abuse?

While bullying, verbal abuse is always wrong in this case, it angers me even more that the teens actually commit suicide. My uncle battled with bipolar disorder for over 30 YEARS, 30 years of hell, before actually finally committing suicide, so whenever I see that some kid has killed themself over bullying...well, it makes me angry that they'd throw their life away so easily. Some people aren't as strong as others, though, I guess.

OT: Jailing people for being offensive...god, this really is a slippery slope. While this man was clearly out of line, you've gotta ask yourself, if we start doing this where does it end? Where do we draw the line?